. >> house speaker john boehner and senate majority leader harry reid on the fiscal cliff standoff. "the new york times" reporting gop leaders are considering extending tax cuts for the fiscal class to avert the fiscal cliff but if that is the case republicans are staying very tight lipped about it. joining me is senator ben carden from maryland a member of the budget committee and the committee on finance. good to have you here and you have said one thing you want from these talks is to show the markets and to show leaders, that leaders have the situation under control there, in your estimation, how would you say that's going so far? >> well predictability is very important. i think the first step is exactly what leader reid said. if we can get predictability on the taxable income below $250,000, everyone knows that's under current rates and also give us the additional revenue we need on that income above $250,000, it shows us that we are moving towards a balanced way to deal with the fiscal cliff. it would be an incredible lift, i think, to confidence in the markets. >> so with ra